When I was growing up, we used to go on the occasional interstate road trip as a family.

I can remember with great fondness the long drives, the regular stops to stretch the legs, the sights along the way and falling asleep to the rocking of the car, all things that I look forward to sharing with my kids in the coming years as we go on our own road trips.

Of course, in romanticising such trips, I’m choosing to ignore the inevitable “are we there yet? questions from the back seat and the undoubted arguments that the three kids will have along the way.

Having said that, road trips are a great tradition and there are a few terrific principles that we can learn from them.

In the 2011 NBA Draft, Marquette’s Jimmy Butler was selected with pick 30 by the Chicago Bulls.

Whilst that’s the starting point for what will hopefully become a successful professional career, it all could have turned out very differently.

Without a father from an early age, Jimmy was kicked out of home by his own mother at the age of 13. Her last words to him were, “I don’t like the look of you. You gotta go.”

After moving from house to house, with no money, no parents and no support structure, he was eventually taken in by the Leslie family who already had 7 children of their own, but generously opened their home and hearts to Jimmy in his senior year of high school.

Sometimes as leaders, we think that it would be much easier if everyone just did what they were told without asking questions or disagreeing with us.

But then I remember that the best leaders don’t surround themselves with yes-men (or yes-women. For the purpose of this post, please assume that yes-men is a gender neutral term), they effectively utilise people who have their own opinions, their own unique perspectives and their own techniques for getting great work done.

If you want to be a better leader who gets better results, you don’t want yes-men.

Whether you’re a leader, work in sales or customer service or any role where you are in regular contact with new people, being able to build rapport will make you more effective and influential in your role.

I had the chance to share a few thoughts about this skill with some church volunteers recently and thought that I would share these tips with you as well. Most of them are just common sense, but sometimes we need little reminders (I know that I do) of what to do.